Shorthand-machine.



W. S. IRELAND.

SHORTHAND MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 19. 1917.

1,296, 191. Patented Mar. 4,1919.

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SHORTHAND MACHINE.

-APPLICATION FILED MAY I9, 1911.

Patented Mar. 4,1919.

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W. S. IRELAND.-

SHORTHAND MACHINE.

APPLICATEON FILED MAY 19, 1911.

1 ,296, 1 9 1 Patented Mar. 4, 1919.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WARD S. IRELAND, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO NATIONAL SHOR'I'HAND COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

SHOBTHAND-MACHIN'E.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 4, 1919.

Application filed May 19, 1917. Serial No. 169,620.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WARD S. IRELAND, a citizen of the United States of America, a resident of the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in shorthand-Machines, of which the. following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in Prior to this invention, shorthand machines have been provided with means for feeding a continuous strip of'paper, which unwindsfrom a roll and passes to printing deviceswhereby a continuous series of characters are .printed upon the paper. Owing to the peculiar requirements of a shorthand machine, it is a decided advantage to use a very longjstrip of paper so the writing may be continued for a considerable period'of time without .frequent interruptions, and heretofore the paper has been firmly wound in a compact mass around a core. While a pa r supply in the form of a small compact rol is highly desirable in a shorthand machine, considerable difliculty has been. experienced in handling such paper after it unwinds and passes from the. machine.

The paper is primarily firmly curled around the axis of the roll, and after passing fromthe roll it tends to return to a spiral or curly condition. If torn from the machine in comparatively short strips, the paper would be in the form of small curls and quite diflicult to handle.

On account of the tendency of the paper to recurl, the paper handling devices of shorthand machines have not been entirely satisfactory.

Therefore one of the objects of this 'invention is to produce a shorthand machine adapted to unwind and feed the paper from a roll, and also adapted to obviate the labor of handling curly strips ofpaper. With this object in view the -machine includes means for uncurling the paper after it passes from the supply roll. Another ob1ect is to produce an uncurling dev ce associated with other elements of a typewritlng machine in such a manner that the desired u ncurling action is obtained without impairing the action of the mach ne. Another object is to produce a typewrlting machine uniform condition.

having a paper straightener which becomes Effective upon the operation of the printing eys.

After being unwound, the, paper tends to .return to the curly condition in which it was held in the spirally wound roll, and since each coilof paper in the roll differs in diameter from the other coils, the paper passes from the roll in a decidedly nonpaper to recurl gradually increases. during the unwinding operation. ..Hence, an un-v smaller coils. An object of the invention is to produce an efliclent uncurling device capable of straightening all of the paper The tendency of the passing from the supply roll. To illustrate this feature of the invention, I have shown and will hereinafter more full means for. placing the paper un er tension,

describe and an uncurling device for straightening the tensioned paper. The efiect'of the uncurling device varies in accordance with the degree of tension under which the paper is held, and the tension is automatically increased as the roll becomes smaller in diameter. By gradually increasing the tension during the unwinding operation, and subjecting the paper to the action of an uncurlin device, all'of the paper passing from the ro "is" placed in an absolutely straightcondition. 0

With the foregoing and other ob ects in view the invention comprises the novel con- 'ment of the invention; however, it is to be understood that the invention comprehends changes, variations and modifications which come within the scope of the claims hereunto appended.

Figure shorthand machine constructed in accordance with my invention. v

Fig. II is a transverse section taken approximately on the line IIII, Flg. I.

I is a longitudinal section of a 1 rear portion of the machine.

Fig. VII is a side elevation of the rear portion of the machine, a portion of the housing being broken away to show the frictional detent associated with the paper feedin roll.

To i ustrate the invention, I have shown a shorthand machine provided with printing keys 1 secured to key levers 2, the latter belng ivotally supported by a pivot rod 3 (Fig. Each key lever 2 1s provlded at its rear end with an upwardly extend ng printing hammer 4 (Fig. I) adapted to cooperate with a type bar 5 havmgtype characters 6 on its bottom face. An inkmg Ilbbon 7 passes between the printing hammers 4 and the type 6.- Each key lever 2 is ar ranged directly below a restoring spring 8 (Fig. I) and the restoring springs yieldingly hold the ke levers in' their non-printing positions. T e strip of paper 9 passes downwardly from a supply roll 10, under a small uncurling rod 11, thence upwardly and over a'paper feeding roll 12, down-- wardly through an inclined passageway 13 (Fig. I) and then rearwardly to a dischar e opening at the rear of the. machine. T e paper travels between the printing hammer .4 and inking ribbon 7 before it reaches the rear end of the machine.

When a printing key is depressed, its key lever 2 turns about the axis of the pivot rod 3 (Fig. I), and the printing hammer 4 at the rear of the key levermoves upwardly to force a portion 'of the paper onto the inkin ribbon 7, at the same time forcing the ri bon onto one of the type characters 6. The printing keys may be operated inde pendently of each other to print selected.

characters, and several keys may be operated simultaneously to print a line of characters,

as is well understood in this art. The characters are usually printed line by line, a complete .word or syllable being printed during each key operation. The strip of paper is advanced one step in response to each key operation.

The paper feeding device comprises a' universal bar 14 (Fig. I) arranged over the key levers at a point in front of the print ing hammers 4 and fixed to a bell crank lever 15, the latter being pivotally supported by the pivot rod 3. The upwardly extending arm of this bell crank lever 15 is notched to receive afpin 16 (Figs. III and IV) latory drive member 17 turns in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. IV, the small spring pressed rollers 19 are firmly clamped in the wedge-shaped spaces between said drive member and the driven clutch member 18. Movement is then transmitted from the universal bar, through the drive member 17 and rollers 19, to the driven clutch member 18. The paper feeding .roll

12 is secured to the driven clutch member 18 soas to-advance one step when the oscillato drive member 17 turns in the direction in icated by the arrow in Fig. IV. During the reverse movement, when the drive member 17 moves oppositely to the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. IV, the small rollers 19 tend to move into the wide ends of the wedge-shaped spaces, and they do not transmit movement to the driven clutch member 18. In response to the oscillatory movements of the universal bar and drive clutch member 17, the paper feeding roll 12 turns step by step in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. IV.

To positively prevent retrograde move- :ment, astationary clutch member 17 (Figs.

III and V is arranged within a rotary clutch mem er 18 secured to one end of the paper feeding roll 12. A pin 20 extending from the; stationary clutch member 17 is secured to a stationary side frame 2-1. Spring pressed rollers 19 are arranged in the wedge-shaped spaces between the stationary clutch member 17 and the rotary clutch member 18'. These small rollers 19 allow the feed roll 12 to turn freely inthe direction indicated by thearrows in Figs. IV and V, but if an effort is made to reverse the direction of movement, the small rollers 19", by tending to move toward the points of the wedge-shaped spaces will cooperate with the stationary clutch member 17'.to prevent such retrograde movement.

The paper is forced into firm engagement with the feed roll 12 by means of a pressure roll 23 (Fig. I). The small uncurlingrod 11 (Figs. I and II) is reduced at its ends to form journals which are rotatably mounted in'bearings 24. At this small rotatable rod 11, the strip of paper 9 is turned abruptly in a direction opposed to the direction in which it .was wound in the roll. It will also be noted that the rod 11 is so located that Qthat the roll of paper and its core may be creased as t e roll of paper becomes smaller operation of the paper feedin readily applied to or removed from the machine. 27 designates friction members, in the form of latch dogs, and 28 desi ates springs which force these members 2 into frictional engagement with the journals 26. The friction members, or latch dogs, 27 detachably secure the roll of paper to the machine, and they also form very important parts of the paper straightener.

The friction members 27 continuously and a uniformly engage the journals 26 at a fixed distance from the axis of the roll of paper, and this distance is not changed by variations in the diameter of the roll of paper. These friction members tend to prevent the roll of paper from turning, and upon the device, the paper is pulled onto the smal uncurling rod 11 while held under tension by the friction members 27. B holding the paper under tension and p111 ing it onto the uncurling rod 11 in the manner illustrated, the paper is uncurled and fed from the machine -1n an absolutely straight condition. To obtain the desired uncurling action, the tenslon of the aper is preferably gradually inin diameter, and this gradually increasing tension can be obtained without changing the location of the friction members 27, and

without changing the tension of the springs 28 which force said members 27 into frictional engagement with the journals 26.

In this connection it is' important to note that the energy for unwinding the roll of paper is transmitted from the paper feeding device to the periphery of the roll, through the medium of the strip of paper. At the beginning of the unwinding operation, the pulling action of the roll of paper is exerted from a point remote from the axis of the roll, and, as the roll decreases in diameter, the point at which the pulling action is exerted gradually approaches said axis.-

The roll of paper is analogous to a pivotally supported lever arm which gradually decreases in length, and the strip of paper may be considered as a means for connecting the free end of 'such a lever arm to a source of energy. Owing to the constantly changing leverage, the force of the pulling action at the roll of paper must constantly increase during the paper feeding operations, for the energy required to pull the paper'a fixed distance depends upon the distance from the center of the roll to the periphery, and as paper must then be pulled more firmly tov overcome the resistance ofliered by the friction elements.

The successive feedingioperations gradually reduce the diameter of the roll of paper and the tension of the strip of paper gra'dually increases. in strict accordance with the gradually increasing diameter of the paper to be uncurled. As previously suggested, the

object in gradually increasing the'tension of paper is to gradually increase the force of the uncurling action, so as to positively straighten all of the paper passing from the roll. The tendency of the paper to recurl gradually increases as the roll becomes smaller in diameter, and this lack of uniformity is compensated for by the means for gradually increasing the tension of the a r. p rom the foregoing, it will be understood that the new paper straightener preferably comprises a combination ofthree very important elements which cooperate with each other to produce a unitary result, these elements being theuncurling member 11 located at a point where the paper is turned abruptly, a paper feeding device for pulling the paper onto said uncurling member, and a; retar ing member cooperating with the roll of paper to offer a gradually increasing resistance to the paper feeding device, the tension of the paper bein increased as the roll of paper decreases in' iameter,

It is also important to observe that-the printing keys are operated very rapidly. To' obtain the necessary speed, the operator must strike and depress the keys very quickly. As a consequence, the key-actuated paper feeding device jerks the paper onto the small uncurlingrod, instead of moving the paper slowly. The quick, firm jerks resulting from the ordinary rapid key operations, cause the fibers of the tensioned paper to be strained or broken at frequent intervals at the smalljuncurling rod 11, and this action very materially increases the effectiveness of the paper, straightener. The paper is strained to a degree beyond its elastic limit, and it does not tend to spring back not ' or break the curly fibers, at the same time winding t up the slack I and then suddenly jerk the paper onto the uncurling rod, so as to strain bending the tensioned paper in a direction reverse to the direction in which it was wound in the roll.

The paper is straightened ve .efl'ectively without materially increasing the power at the finger keys. At the beglnning of each I key operation, the universal bar and paper feeding rolls are actuated to take up the slack in the paper, very little power being required, and so the finger key continues its downward movement, the momentum of the universal bar and feeding rolls aiding the operator in jerkin the paper onto the uncurling rod and p in the tensioned paper. Owing to these conditlons, the quick-acting paper straightener can be driven by the finger keys so as to obtain highly desirable results, withoutappreciably increasing the load or strain at the operators fingers, and this is important, for the keys must move freely and quickly when struck-by the fingers. If the paper was uncurled by a continuous, uniform pulling and bending operation, the paper would not be loosened and then jerked onto the uncurling rod, and the additional power exerted by the operators fingers would be uniform and continuous guring the entire downward stroke of the By subjecting the paper to the action of the combmation of elements herein shown, the tendency to recurl can be eliminated without usin a blade or a noisy frictional scraper on t e surface of the paper. The uncurling member 11 preferably rotates freely in response to the jerks to which the tensioned paper is subjected.

1. In a shorthand machine adapted to receive a roll of paper, apaper-strai htener comprising a paper feeding device or unroll, an uncurling member onto which the paper is pulled by said paper feeding device, said parts being so arranged thatthepaper is turned abruptly at said uncurling member, retarding means coiiperable with the roll of paper to offer a gradually increasing resistance to the paper feeding device, the

tension of the paper at-said uncurling memher being increased as the roll decreases in diameter, and printin keys whereby the paper feeding device 15 actuated intermittently to feed the paper step by step, the

tensioned paper being jerked firmly and quickly onto the uncurling member in response to the key operations. 1

e paper and feeding it from the 2. In a shorthand machine adapted to re member, retarding means cooperable with.

the roll of paper to enable sai'd paper feeding device to place the paper under tension at said uncurling member, a universal bar for actuating said aper feeding device, and finger keys whereby the universal bar is actuated intermittently to feed the paper step by step, the tensioned paper being jerked firmly and quickly onto the uncurling member in response to the operations of said finger keys and universal bar.

3. In a typewriting machine, a paper support including a core adapted to receive a roll of paper, and a paper straightener comprising an intermittent paper feeding device whereby the paper is unwound from the roll and fed step by step, an uncurling member onto which the aper is pulled by said intermittent paper feeding device, said parts being so arranged that the paper is turned abruptly at said uncurling member, and friction members yieldingly fitted to said core so as to detachably secure the core and roll of paper to the machine, said friction members also cooperating with the roll of paper to offer a gradually increasing resistance to the paper feeding device, the tension of .the paper at said uncurling member being increased as theroll decreases in diameter.

4. In a typewriting machine, a paper support including a core adapted to receive a roll of paper, said core being provided with journals at its ends, and a paper straightener comprising an intermittent paper feeding device whereby the paper is unwound from the roll-and fed step by step, an uncurling member onto which the paper is pulled by said intermittent paper feeding device, said parts being so arranged that the paper is turned abruptly at said uncurling member, and friction members yieldingly fitted to said journals so as to detachably secure the core and roll of paper to the machine, said friction members also cooperating with the roll of paperto offer a the roll decreases in diameter.

' WARD s. IRELAND. 

